New transport hub to create green urban centre for Jiaxing

MAD Architects have unveiled the design for Jiaxing’s ‘Train Station in the Forest’, which aims to provide a green urban centre for the city’s residents and establish a busy transport hub with an overall passenger capacity of 5.28m people per year. The project covers an area of 35.4 ha, encompassing public plazas and the renovation of the adjacent People’s Park. Drawing inspiration from Jiaxing’s historic and cultural contexts, MAD’s proposal includes a 1:1 rebuilding of the historic station building derived from archival studies, while creating a new train station underground. 

MAD engaged with scholars, consultants and experts in heritage architecture in order to design the reconstruction of the original building, which dates from 1907. Upon completion, the old station will become the Jiaxing Railway History Museum. The new building is located in the basement level, allowing the ground-floor space to be given back to nature. As people move from the waiting hall to the platforms via a futuristic underground tunnel, they can observe the reconstructed station overhead, forming a link between past and fulture. MAD’s scheme also places the commercial functions underground, with sunken courtyards connecting to the parkland above. To the south, a new above-ground commercial area is enclosed by landscaped public lawns that can host a variety of events, festivals, concerts, or markets.

Ma Yansong, founder of MAD, stated: “China’s train stations are competing to be bigger than one another. Standing tall in the city like grand palaces, they are surrounded by large main roads, imposing viaducts, and often empty plazas. Rather than this pursuit of grand, monumental architecture, is it possible for urban train stations to create their own beautiful environment, with comfortable scales, and a blend of transport and urban functions that are both efficient and humane? Is it possible for train stations to be more than a stopover for travelers, but an urban public space that people can enjoy?”

Lucy Nordberg
TenderStream Head of Research

This tender was first published by TenderStream on 18.04.2013 here

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